So How Big Is The UK Financial Market?

By Tosif Patel

While we all come across loans of some kind through our lives, including mortgages, overdraft, personal loans, business loans, credit cards, etc do we really know how big the market is? How much money actually changes hands on a monthly basis? You would be surprised at the massive amounts involved, which are covered in a summary of the British Bankers Association report for October 2006 (www.bba.org.uk).

The month of October was potential a tricky month for the financial markets as interest rates were almost certainly going to rise (and did) increasing the cost of lending in a second. This seems to have had little impact on market activity which is covered below :-

· Total lending (loans, etc) to the Private Sector showed a new increase of some £11.8 billion (+0.9%) to £1,216 billion. This is in comparison to the previous months increase of £9.6 billion.

· Even as the traditional quiet Christmas period approached, net mortgage lending showed a further increase, which is a reflection of the still strong property market. Net mortgage lending rose by a massive £5.5 billion for October, which was slightly up on the previous months already high figure.

· Overall, unsecured personal lending rose in October, with Loan and Overdraft lending rising by £0.8 billion, while credit card borrowing actually fell by £0.4 billion (there will be a seasonal rise as we approach Christmas).

The above figures will give you an idea of the size of the Financial Industry in the UK, and the seemingly inexhaustible demand for further lending for mortgages, overdrafts, etc. Despite the recent rise in UK interest rates, and the seemingly inevitable further increases in early 2007 the UK consumer seems to be oblivious to the “real” situation.

While there has always been major competition on the high street, the traditional clearing banks and specialist financial companies are now coming under pressure from the retail giants such as Tesco (www.tesco.com) who have the capacity to offer their customers add-on financial services. The UK consumer is notoriously lazy, with many of us still not checking out the competition before buying although this is starting to change due to the increased access to the internet.

This increased competition has forced many financial companies to go for volume sales at lower profit margins, which is a very dangerous game if business were ever to slow, or the UK economy go into reverse. As in so many areas of retail, the impact of companies such as Tesco is having a real long term impact.

UK Financial Market